what's the right prescription for changing how we buy health insurance? health exchanges, the public option...even co- ops: does size matter in controlling health care costs? plus, some car dealerships still waiting on hundreds of thousands of dollars promised to them as part of the government's cash for clunkers program. why it's taking so long for uncle sam to pay up. and...why now may be the perfect time to start discussing dollars and cents with your children...how to get the conversation going....ahead on this edition of first business. ahead of monday market action welcome this been a bouncy couple of days in this market but when state could be a quiet day which may be exactly the price per share for the bulls to retire. want to keep an eye on those short health-care insurance stocks in recent days they've been reacting if to the debate on health care reform of going court in washington and

tuesday the white house came out saying, the president obama still supports a government-run insurance option where while democrats on the other hand say there are more options on the tablecloth so certainly keep an eye on those health care and trust fast-food us a choice in as this is costing the stocks and put someone tried later may be exactly the clearest indication of where this day's date may be headed its core to affect all americans and likely going to affect federal and/or net both policies in the years ahead. new government figures show 1.7 billion dollars of the cash for clunkers program has already been used up... but car dealerships across america have barely seen any of that cash... and for some it's turning into a cash crunch for business. here at highland ford.. just outside of chicago - they've sold about 60 new cars under the cash for clunkers program.. and they're now waiting for the cash. there are some car dealers in

the chicago area that are waiting to get paid reportedly up to half a million dollars from the us government. that's why they're keeping the clunkers on their lots...not disabling the engine until after they get paid. i'm confident we'll get paid, just hope it's more timely payment al frisch president of highland ford says many car dealers will soon face a cash crunch if they don't get paid soon... some dealers even stopped selling new cars under the cash for clunkers program until they get paid. we're getting close to running out...right now maintain and continue to do business since cash for clunkers started at the end of july .. more than 400-thousand new cars were sold under the program.... car dealers say they were told it would be a 10 day turn around from the time they submitted paper work.. to recieiving the 3500 or 4500 payment for each new car sold. michael price at highland ford...started submitting applications on july 30th...and

almost 20 days later... we have yet to have one approved he spends hours on the goverment's website every day typing in all the information. as frustrating as it can be at times, michael says the workers on the other end sorting through these deals probably have it worse. a lot of the docs. are different for every state.. registration cards. there's 50 states in program.. and it takes getting used to what you're looking at before you know what to look for one deal usually requires about 15 pages of paperwork.. including the title.. bill of sale.. registration and insurance information... part of the challenge.. is that the government recently changed paperwork requirements in the middle of the program.. putting an even greater burden on car dealerships. will see if the market can go for two and a role a little bit of traders talk at the cme

group whippy fg best how about we saw some shortcovering rally on tuesday the think default wednesday? i would be surprised to see upside movement were not really looking big numbers coming up tomorrow cooled were probably see another increase in stockpiles but given where we are moving and given people respond to was one happen on the consumer saddlegoing to be a big surprise i want to add to about oil pricing will pull that out to commodities in general will first of all we saw the sell-off on monday it regrouping the sell-off on last week's buying on tuesday is this the pols that refreshes in this market we've seen since smart? i think people stepping back and saying that we really had a high movement spread to the topside that really doesn't happen as we saw monday it doesn't happen i think a lot of that has to play back into we're in a terrible war right now for what the consumers in the best thing in sentiment is what the fundamental numbers are coming out if you look at what took place over the weekend with

colonial bank corp. that was a huge bank that went under and if that had happened back in the fall and winter i think we would have seen that the reaction so is just another academy. this seems to be the case this week let's talk about oil throughput below $70 a barrel. i still think we have printed downside i think right now we really are trying to find where we need to be priced i think we definitely priced out the risk that was in the marketplace of the winter in in the spring connected were getting closer to where we need to be i'm not sure if the fundamentals have caught up to allow was to go to the upside but as we saw all spring and most of the summer is the investor and the sentiment is going to drive the market forward. we appreciated evan along with us he's with p f g best over at the cme group.

still to come kids and money....why the recession sets the stage for parents to start the conversation. but first... healthcare reform remains a hot topic...from healthcare exchanges to co- ops......will they really mean saving money and more coverage?

health care exchanges, a public option or health insurance co- ops. those are some of the ideas congress and white house continue debating over health care reform. the challenge for supporters has been to get those happy with their current insurance on board the reform effort while accomplishing president obama's twin goals of holding down cost increasesand providing coverage for those without. you should be able to get some help going into the private insurance market place, and buying health insurance. so we would give you a tax credit, a subsidy of some sort, to help you obtain insurance. now the

problem is if you're going out there on your own, then it's much more expensive than if you go in a big group. so we would allow you to buy into health care exchange that would give you some power to negotiate for a better rate, because you're now part of a big pool." anthony lo sasso is a health economist and professor at the university of illinois at chicago. anthony is a health economist and professor at the university illinois at chicago nice to see you. the president talking about health exchanges in the sound by we saw the public option remains on the table now were hurting about insurance co- ops besides trying to increase the pool that matter when comes to health insurance costs? it does matter were innocent where she now more the public option is dead along with the public options it's going to be really interesting to see how he gets himself out of this and where we wind up. nobody knows what co- ops are and what they're going to mean for the average consumer. it does make you wonder some sort of quiet public

private entity kind of sense off alarm bells in my mind about a mother fannie mae for health care. qualify public-private entity operating with implicit public guarantee but still operating with shareholders or corporative ownership of some sort i don't know how this one to work and i don't know how a private market is going to compete with that is it going to get to the to close that the administration hill for health care reform which is more coverage would provide more coverage? maybe. " we limit cost increases again maybe i think there clearly are ways is not the only do it could work nobody knows what it will ultimately the like hell will be stretched. how much is gonna cost tax payers to do this. purses' simply giving a tax credit to people for the

purchase of health insurance trying to reinvigorate health insurance markets. the private for those who don't get it to their employers to some degree may be the co op will go towards the market now if exchanges could possibly go toward the market trying to increase the pool to spread the risks but the private insurance market has done that for years upon years and that has unlimited crossed increases were with the think that this public option would do that. we have a public option already is called medicare it has not been successful. the public options as its been invented of sorts that you can opt into the and it's hard to imagine a buddy not opting in to it which is the fear of a private health insurance. the other porter hearing is to try to support competition within

health insurance and the private market proposed were getting health care to their employers and again that competitive market has not held down cost increases hasn't spread coverage either. it hasn't. it has spread coverage to appoint cost increases not so much the with * the managed care revolution of the '90s was successful for a time. ultimately there is the tax subsidy out there which creates a distortion in the market for health insurance that leads to overconsumption of health over purchasing more generous policies that is a fundamental of to the fatal flaw in a lot of this discussion would you rather see getting rid of that tax deductibility of health resources premiums to employers? in the economy should answer yes. what about this economist?

tony with us professor and health economist at university of illinois chicago. online items after the show, head to our website to see why bank failures could start picking up pace for the rest of the year. plus, why one market pro thinks worries over commercial real estate are overblown. and....it's christmas in august...what retailers are doing now to help edge out competition later when it comes to holiday shopping...you can catch these stories and more on our website, firstbusinessx.com. and straight ahead on the show.... why it's never too early to start talking about finances with children...some tips on how to start the conversation....after the break.

the birds and bees talk may be tough enough for parents but thanks to the recession, many may find themselves having a dollars and cents conversation with their kids. lynette khalfani-cox calls herself the money coach. one " and the show of there so much about money is tied to the motion tell be rationally begin to have the money conversation with kids? first i think you have to recognize that even if he made mistakes those can be teaching moments. so many of us don't wanna talk about past failures to we've had and what we've done wrong i take the opposite approach. i've been vocal about the fact that i was in a deep amount of debt to the tune of $100,000 now when i talk about my young kids who are approaching teenage years my

12 year old certainly i tell them listen there are smart choices you can make with germany but there are bad ones you can make as well that this economy is in in our 24 us talk about money on what he is. the talk about a situation where both parents perhaps lost their jobs over past year. the bills aren't been paid out the start that conversation and still try to instill value into kids? one thing i think we can do especially for teenagers is let them see the household budget. transparency can go a long way toward educating our children too often we treat money as if it's a taboo topic we don't want to share basic financial matters with our children we have the misconception that this is an adult issue and we shouldn't burden that kids would money matters. don't take that approach show your kids the basics if there has been a loss of income in the family don't be afraid to share that with

your children tell them what the mortgage or what the rent cost to them how much utility costs and what the full bill is that will set your children up for more financial successes down the road because there will have a much better view of reality when a goose step into the real world. you have almost teenagers might know this is a four year old obviously a much less sit down with him in detail the household budget so what point do you get into the specifics of your household spending versus teaching the value of a dollar? my children but to tell you the two older ones are turning 12 and 10 this year my youngest is 3 it will be in for later this year so i'm not right there with you on the on one side and the first point is as soon as your kids start asking you about money does when you should introduce the concept my three year old has asked about coins in dollar bills she's also asks for me to buy certain things which he is true that that's the perfect time to introduce basic money management

concepts. the older children certainly know about household bills and about how much stuff cost per go on vacation the know the approximate price of at airline ticket for example so for those 1012 and certainly the teenager should definitely no those issues. that cementing that connection between the earnings of the money the savings of the money and the spinning of the money and sometimes that's faces sometimes adults do the last one up very easily is the first one that becomes a challenge. that's right you know one of the best conversations you should have with your children whatever age they are in 3913 or 23 is about choices in what you do with money. you can sabin you can spend and invest the you can donated and of course that comes after you've actually on the money was to get past the talking face the and i think it's critically important that we as parents in the financial indicators allow children to put in practice some of the

lessons that we've been talking to them about. a great way for parents to the this is to open a student account for their teenagers if you check out a paper towel. c o m/student account you be able to open an account best links between the parent and the teenagers this is a way for the students to spend money and make purchases offline or on line and the parents can actually monster what their children are spending money on you can oppose parental controls etcetera but the idea here is that you are going to get a little taste as to what you're 13 or 16 year old is going to do when he is 19 or 25 years old if you can give him a little bit of practice of them do this right now in the context where you giving them a parental safety net. for one parent of almost teenage to another which conversation was tough for the birds and bees or the dollars and cents? i would say the birds and beasts they both went yup when i told them about that. try explaining credit the fall swaps to lynette california talks with the she is the money coach. thank you tom. with health-care reform in the spotlight so are the stocks of some health care insurance companies. we'll take a closer look in chart talk coming up next.

still a big debate over the issue of a government run health insurance options as we talk about health care reform and lawmakers on capitol hill talk about it has a lot of these health insurance companies and the shares are really reacting to the debate day-by-day. freely gaming the system as your telling you investors are really putting cash in scan into the game and the rally we've seen over the past couple recessions not too concerned about a public auction and competition. take a look at these managed-care companies that could see some stiff competition depending on if we do get a government run health insurance plans so taking a look at united health group for example the stock is up only about 6% on the year aetna up about less than 4% on the year and of course signet that is actually a really good performer up 75% since january

in a pretty big divergence and and and the and still leaves the stocks are reacting to what goes on in washington. but again you in a united healthcare $28 a share you can draw a line in this chart and it had been resistance and now perhaps support with this latest rally over an antenna is a little bit of a trend higher as is backing off bouncing off their recent resistance a round 26 and the percentage performance to mention this thing has been on a tear-year period instead for a pretty steady uptrend line since it bottomed out in march so in the coming days keep an eye on the stock certainly investors are going to be taking sides depending on one side starts to come out on top here. watchlist sparking pent up demand. if the

goal of the cash for clunkers program was to kick start the auto industry, it may be succeeding...for now. five automakers, ford, g-m, chrysler, toyota and hyundai have all ramped up production at some facilities thanks to demand for some new car models, sparked by the cash for clunkers deal. even though interest in the program may be slowing, these car makers are slowly putting a few people back to work. the jury is still out for other efforts to spark demand. offering an $8-thousand tax credit for first time homebuyers may have helped home sales stabilized this spring and summer, but they remain a fraction of what they were just a few years ago. one more item cash may be king...but watch out for the cocaine. a new study confirms the urban legend....up to 90 percent of paper money in the u-s has traces of cocaine. one researcher from the university of massachusetts says that's almost a 20 percent jump compared to just two years ago.

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